


Striking Twice

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Episode Tag, Episode: s01e10 The Storm, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-17 21:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1403791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John goes to fix a broken grounding station— and Rodney goes to fix him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Striking Twice

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #049 "wet"

On Atlantis’s new planet, they didn’t have to worry about city-destroying super-storms like they had on the last one, but a regular-sized storm could still do some serious damage with one of their grounding stations down.

“It looks like a relay failure,” said Rodney, looking over the diagnostic read-outs in the Control Room. “If this is right, it should be an easy repair, shouldn’t take me longer than—”

“I’ll go,” John interrupted.

Rodney frowned at him. “Sheppard?”

“I’ll go. You said it was easy, right? I can take care of it, and you can keep checking the other stations. If I get stuck, you can just talk me through it.”

That plan had made perfect sense to Rodney when John was standing right in front of him, but after the broken station came back online, and John’s little life-sign dot didn’t move, he started to worry.

“There was an energy spike just as Colonel Sheppard finished the repairs,” said Radek. “Maybe the lightning disabled his radio?”

“Maybe…” Rodney echoed, but he was already heading for the transporter.

The howling wind got louder as he left the center of the city, still not as loud as the pounding rain. Lightning flashed outside and Rodney stopped walked abruptly.

An energy spike, Radek had said. A lightning bolt that had hit the grounding station just as John had finished.

They all had bad memories of the Genii-invasion storm, and while Rodney’s rant-and-complain method was probably not the healthiest way of coping, it was still much better than John’s refusal to even mention things that bothered him.

Lightning flashed again and Rodney started moving, breaking into a run as he neared the grounding station. The door was open, and he skidded to a stop on the rain-soaked platform. “Sheppard!?”

For one terrifying moment, Rodney thought it was empty, until there was another flash of lightning and he caught a flicker of movement at the edge of his vision. John was huddled in the corner, knees drawn up tight against his chest and arms wrapped around them. He didn’t even twitch as Rodney dropped down beside him, not even when he reached out to catch John’s hand.

“My god, Sheppard, you’re freezing!” said Rodney, moving the back of one hand to John’s forehead to check his temperature, and sliding the other around to cup his jaw. “Sheppard? John?”

The colonel blinked at him, eyes unfocused. “R-Rodney?”

“What are you doing out here, Sheppard?” he demanded. “You didn’t check in, you didn’t answer your radio… Can you even hear me right now?”

John gave a full-body shiver and tipped sideways into Rodney’s lap.

“Whoa, hey!” said Rodney, catching him automatically. “John, are you okay?”

“R-Rodney?” said John, in exactly the same surprised tone as the first time.

“Okay, come on.” Rodney rearranged them so that he could pull John’s arm over his shoulder and get them both upright. John’s radio poked his cheek, and Rodney remembered his own. “Zelenka, come in.”

“ _Rodney, you have found the colonel?_ ” asked Radek.

“Yes, yes, and he’s fine. For a given value of ‘fine’, anyway. But we’re both soaked, so we’re going inside to dry off.”

“ _Yes, of course_ ,” said Radek. “ _All the grounding stations are operational, no other problems anywhere_.”

“Well, if you can managed not to do anything stupid for a few hours, I’m going to make sure that Sheppard doesn’t catch his death of cold. McKay out.”

“N-not gonna d-die,” John muttered, against Rodney’s shoulder.

Rodney manhandled them both into the transporter. “No, you’re not.”

“’S c-cold in here,” said John.

“I know,” Rodney told him. “Just hang in there, Sheppard, okay?”

“’Kay,” John agreed, closing his eyes and letting his head roll onto Rodney’s shoulder. 

The transporter doors opened and Rodney steered them down the hallway to his own quarters. He headed straight for the bathroom and leaned John up against the sink— the colonel wobbled but stayed on his feet.

“Strip,” said Rodney, moving to turn on the shower. He was hoping for a suggestive comment, but when he turned back, John hadn’t moved. “Sheppard, you with me?”

“I— yeah?”

Rodney snorted and started on the buttons of John’s shirt. John was shivering again by the time he finished with both of their clothes and pulled them into the shower.

“I k-killed them,” John muttered, teeth chattering.

“What?”

“The G-Genii. K-Kolya’s m-men. They c-came through the g-gate and I c-closed the shield on ‘em. K-Killed ‘em all.”

“Yes, you did,” said Rodney, as kindly as he could manage. “But they were soldiers, John. Enemy combatants, right? If you had let them though to Atlantis, they would have killed you, or at least tried. They’d have killed me, and Elizabeth, and anyone else they came across.”

“They were p-people, Rodney. With f-families. And I k-killed them.”

“And the fact that you still feel bad about that, years later, means you made the right call. You’re not a murderer, John. You only kill when you have no other choice.”

“N-not always.”

“Yes, always,” Rodney said, firmly. “You’re a good man, John Sheppard, and don’t you dare think any differently.”

John managed a smile, and leaned against Rodney’s shoulder, letting the warm water flow over them. “You’re gonna deny ever having said that, after this, aren’t you?” he teased.

“Of course I am,” said Rodney, and pushed John under the spray so he could wash his hair.

THE END


End file.
